Convenience store
A convenience store, bodega, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines.[1][2][3][4]
"Corner shop" redirects here. For the British band, see Cornershop. For the British web-series, see Corner Shop Show.
In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. OPUS cards in Montreal or include a small deli.[5] They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient (hence their common name) supplement to larger stores.
A convenience store may be part of a gas/petrol station, so customers can purchase goods while refuelling their vehicle.[2] It may be located alongside a busy road, in an urban area, near a railway or railroad station or other transport hub. In some countries, convenience stores have long shopping hours and some remain open 24 hours.
Convenience stores often charge significantly higher prices than conventional grocery stores or supermarkets, as they buy smaller quantities of inventory at higher per-unit prices from wholesalers. Customers benefit from their longer open hours, more convenient and greater number of locations and shorter cashier lines.[6]
Terminology[edit]
A convenience store may also be called a cold store, party store (Michigan), bodega (New York City), carry out, mini-market, mini-mart, corner shop, deli or milk bar (Australia), dairy (New Zealand), superette (New Zealand, parts of Canada, and in parts of the US), corner store (many parts of English-speaking Canada and New England), a späti (from 'spätkauf' (lit. 'buy-late') in Germany, a konbini (コンビニ in Japanese) in Japan, based on the English loanword 'convinience', dépanneur or dep (used in Canada, primarily Quebec, in both English and French.[7] It is a loanword from the French 'troubleshooter').[8][9]
Similar concepts[edit]
Convenience stores to some extent replaced the old-fashioned general store. They are similar to Australian milk bars, but unlike these are often franchises and not "Mum and Dad" small business operations. In Britain, corner shops in towns and village shops in the countryside served similar purposes and were the precursors to the modern European convenience shop (e.g. Spar). In the Canadian province of Quebec, dépanneurs (often referred to as "deps" in English) are often family-owned neighbourhood shops that serve similar purposes. Truck stops, also known as "travel centers", combine a shop offering similar goods with a convenience store with amenities for professional drivers of semi-trailer trucks. This may include fast food restaurants, showers and facilities for buying large quantities of diesel fuel. The equivalent in Europe is the motorway service station.
Neighborhood grocery stores not big enough to be considered a supermarket often compete with convenience shops. For example, in Los Angeles, a local chain operates neighborhood grocery stores that fill a niche between a traditional supermarket and convenience shop. Because they stock fresh fruit and fresh meat and carry upwards of 5,000 items, they have a lot in common with the supermarket. Due to the relatively small store size, customers can get in and out conveniently or have purchases delivered. In Belgium, convenience shops known as night shops are only permitted to open at night.[79]